Saris bones question
 

I searched the forums and read through some of the old Saris bones posts, but I still had a couple questions. Do you really need the bike beam bar to make if you have a sloping top tube? What will it affect if the bike is angled while it is sitting on the rack? I don't think this will be a problem with my road bike but my mountain bike might be more of an issue. Also how safe are the locks that you can buy for these racks. I haven't received my rack yet, (it is coming in the mail), but it seems like someone could just cut the straps and throw the whole rig with the bikes in the back of a truck if they wanted to. Anyway any response is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I can answer parts of your question. A bike with a sloping top tube should still fit in the rack, unless it's an extreme slope (can't see your bike, but can't really picture what bike wouldn't be okay). Full-sus DOES require a bike beam though.

Sorry, I've never tried locks for my Bones rack - without locks it would be very easy to steal, everything loosens quickly.

Good luck!

P.S. Just received a Yakima hitch rack for the new SUV, and it is sweet - locks and all :D

Are there any limitations on how fast one should travel with the Saris bones 2 hooked up? (Besides posted speed limits, of course).

sloping tob tubes are no problem per se, what IS a problem is the clearance that your front triangle provides. in order to rack the bike on the innermost mount, you'll have to slot both arms through the front triangle (assuming no adapter). bear in mind this includes the little flat things protruding from the bottom of both arms that are supposed to lie flat with your seattube/seatpost (you'll know what i mean when you see it). most all rear suspension bikes use a lot of space in the front triangle, and jump/trials bikes will have too narrow a space because the top tube is so close to parrallel with the down tube!

no limitations i've encountered as yet, going at 90-100kph seems ok so long as everything's secured (REAL) tightly. Not sure how to lock the rack to the car though, still havent done that yet.

to get my full fuss on their I had to cut the arms off and leave support for only 1 bike - it fits fine now - but before I couldn't get it past the wider bits underneath the arms....

was a bit pissed I had to do that.

i hit 100 mph with two bikes loaded on a bones 3. it held just fine, though i would not recommend it.